‘Powerful moment’ – Triple H details WWE creative decision behind John Cena’s heel turn at Elimination Chamber
John Cena is all about hustle, loyalty… and disrespect. The 16-time world champion, who had been the face of WWE for more than two decades, has finally turned heel. Cena turned heel by attacking Cody Rhodes at Elimination ChamberGetty He won the Elimination Chamber match on Saturday night to punch his ticket to WrestleMania 41, but stunned fans with his actions after the victory. Cena aligned with his former rival, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, to double-cross Cody Rhodes in front of a stunned crowd. As the Undisputed WWE Champion took to the ring to congratulate Cena on winning Elimination Chamber, The Rock and and rap star Travis Scott interrupted. ‘The Final Boss’ demanded an answer to his recent offer of taking Rhodes’ soul and turning him into ‘his champion’ – but was told to ‘go f*** yourself’. Cena initially embraced Rhodes for his strong response, but the WWE legend suddenly received a signal from The Rock, and seconds later, booted Cody below the belt. He then carried out a devastating attack, leaving Rhodes in a bloody, crumpled heap in the middle of the ring as the WWE Universe watched on. And while it was The Rock who masterminded the shocking moment in the ring, it was Triple H who made Cena’s heel turn happen behind the scenes. Speaking in a post-Elimination Chamber press conference, WWE’s Chief Content Officer explained exactly how the historic moment came about. “I’m a really big proponent of collaboration. I want all the ideas, I want us to look at all of them and have conversations around what is the best thing, and out of those things, how can we tear those up and go in a completely different direction,” Triple H said. “At some point in time, little germs of ideas come in and, ‘What if? My God, what if, right?’ And it just begins to percolate. I’m fortunate in this time frame that I have some of the great minds to work with. Cena initially embraced Rhodes after winning the Elimination ChamberGetty But The Rock then gave him a signal, calling on him to attack the championX: @WWE Cena obliged, beating down Rhodes to turn heel for the first time in decadesGetty “Dwayne and I have been working together for, I don’t know, almost 30 years in some manner. He’s always been an epic storyteller. “He’s always been an epic guy to get outside of the box and say, ‘Let’s do something different. How can we blow this up and change expectations?’ “So it starts with a bunch of people coming up with great ideas to try to entertain our fans and lead them in a direction and then (take) them into the other direction when they don’t see it coming. “People are pretty savvy, they’re tuned in and sense things coming. It’s why we get so upset when we see spoilers and things leak, when you do get the right ones that are out there, it drives you nuts. “The one thing I loved about tonight is that it was nowhere, because nobody knew. When I say nobody knew, nobody.” As well as praising The Rock and others for their collaboration on Cena’s heel turn, Triple H also praised the man himself for pulling it off to perfection. Triple H discussed Cena’s heel turn during a press conference after Elimination ChamberGetty He continued: “I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of the biggest things in this business in the last 30 years. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt a more powerful moment. “When you get to a place in your career, when you know you have months left on the thing that launched you to the rest of the world, it puts you in a different perspective. “It puts you in a place of, it’s now or never, and you can ride that out, and you can rest on the things that you have done, and you couldn’t really blame John for doing that, for just saying, ‘I’m gonna come in and I’m gonna ride the nostalgia wave for the next ten months.’ “Or somebody like him can double down and say, screw it, I want to be challenged right to the last moment. “I want to go out on my shield, I want to give this everything I have. I want to challenge myself, I want to do something different, I want to be afraid of it, I want to go out there and do it all. That’s the beauty of John Cena.” With a historic heel turn, Cena has ensured his final 10 months in WWE are going to be epic. All eyes will be on the 16-time world champion ahead of WrestleMania, where he will look to finally capture his record-breaking 17th title against Rhodes.
John Cena is all about hustle, loyalty… and disrespect.
The 16-time world champion, who had been the face of WWE for more than two decades, has finally turned heel.
He won the Elimination Chamber match on Saturday night to punch his ticket to WrestleMania 41, but stunned fans with his actions after the victory.
Cena aligned with his former rival, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, to double-cross Cody Rhodes in front of a stunned crowd.
As the Undisputed WWE Champion took to the ring to congratulate Cena on winning Elimination Chamber, The Rock and and rap star Travis Scott interrupted.
‘The Final Boss’ demanded an answer to his recent offer of taking Rhodes’ soul and turning him into ‘his champion’ – but was told to ‘go f*** yourself’.
Cena initially embraced Rhodes for his strong response, but the WWE legend suddenly received a signal from The Rock, and seconds later, booted Cody below the belt.
He then carried out a devastating attack, leaving Rhodes in a bloody, crumpled heap in the middle of the ring as the WWE Universe watched on.
And while it was The Rock who masterminded the shocking moment in the ring, it was Triple H who made Cena’s heel turn happen behind the scenes.
Speaking in a post-Elimination Chamber press conference, WWE’s Chief Content Officer explained exactly how the historic moment came about.
“I’m a really big proponent of collaboration. I want all the ideas, I want us to look at all of them and have conversations around what is the best thing, and out of those things, how can we tear those up and go in a completely different direction,” Triple H said.
“At some point in time, little germs of ideas come in and, ‘What if? My God, what if, right?’ And it just begins to percolate. I’m fortunate in this time frame that I have some of the great minds to work with.
“Dwayne and I have been working together for, I don’t know, almost 30 years in some manner. He’s always been an epic storyteller.
“He’s always been an epic guy to get outside of the box and say, ‘Let’s do something different. How can we blow this up and change expectations?’
“So it starts with a bunch of people coming up with great ideas to try to entertain our fans and lead them in a direction and then (take) them into the other direction when they don’t see it coming.
“People are pretty savvy, they’re tuned in and sense things coming. It’s why we get so upset when we see spoilers and things leak, when you do get the right ones that are out there, it drives you nuts.
“The one thing I loved about tonight is that it was nowhere, because nobody knew. When I say nobody knew, nobody.”
As well as praising The Rock and others for their collaboration on Cena’s heel turn, Triple H also praised the man himself for pulling it off to perfection.
He continued: “I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of the biggest things in this business in the last 30 years. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt a more powerful moment.
“When you get to a place in your career, when you know you have months left on the thing that launched you to the rest of the world, it puts you in a different perspective.
“It puts you in a place of, it’s now or never, and you can ride that out, and you can rest on the things that you have done, and you couldn’t really blame John for doing that, for just saying, ‘I’m gonna come in and I’m gonna ride the nostalgia wave for the next ten months.’
“Or somebody like him can double down and say, screw it, I want to be challenged right to the last moment.
“I want to go out on my shield, I want to give this everything I have. I want to challenge myself, I want to do something different, I want to be afraid of it, I want to go out there and do it all. That’s the beauty of John Cena.”
With a historic heel turn, Cena has ensured his final 10 months in WWE are going to be epic.
All eyes will be on the 16-time world champion ahead of WrestleMania, where he will look to finally capture his record-breaking 17th title against Rhodes.
